Petty Harbour

Travelling around Newfoundland you are constantly reminded of the collapse of the cod fishery in the 1992. It was a sad time for Newfoundlanders and to this day cod stocks have not returned. Today on the dock in Petty Harbour there were recreational fisherman with bins of five fish each — that’s the daily limit this year — and I watched them slice off fat filets and toss the bloody carcasses back in the water. This is cod season, and it lasts only a few weeks. Petty Harbour is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, and was no doubt a thriving fishing community before the moratorium. I painted in the shade of one of the old fishing shacks, with my sheet propped up on an old wooden sawhorse. Many people stopped by to say hello but none more proud than the man who pointed to the house across the bay where he grew up, the house on our side of the bay where his wife was born, and the house in the middle that they bought together.

Very lovely! You’ve captured it well. And I get to see that scene every day! So do our guests: for anyone visiting Newfoundland, Petty Harbour is the perfect place to stay: an ‘around the bay’ experience in a working fishing village, but only 15 minutes from downtown St. John’s. We’ve had several painters stay with us, and all have lovely work. http://www.shorelarkbythesea.com